Do Moslems, Christians & Jews Believe in the Same God?

frontpagemag ^ | 11/28/2002 | Serge Trifkovic

[TLBSHOW]

Do Moslems, Christians & Jews Believe in the Same God?

One in a series of excerpts adapted by Robert Locke from Dr. Serge Trifkovic’s new book, The Sword of the Prophet: A Politically-Incorrect Guide to Islam

One of the clichés endlessly repeated by those who would conceal the dangerous potentialities inherent in Islam is that Moslems "believe in the same God" as Christians and Jews. But this is a severe distortion of the truth, for what Moslems fundamentally believe is that they know the true nature of the God that Judaism and Christianity tell lies about. Lies for which Christians and Jews will be punished in hell. The fact that Moslems share Levantine monotheism with us thus makes them more, not less, antagonistic to us on a religious level. Hopes for reconciliation on the grounds of common monotheism, as opposed to a realistic "good fences make good neighbors" civilizational détente, are wishful thinking.

The widespread belief in the non-Muslim world that Islam accords respect to the Old Testament and the Gospels as steps in progression to Mohammad’s revelation is mistaken. Modern Muslim apologists try to stress the supposed underlying similarities and compatibility of the three faiths, but this is not the view of orthodox Islam. Muhammad’s insistence that there is a heavenly proto-Scripture and that previous "books" are merely distorted and tainted copies sent to previous nations or communities means that these scriptures are the "barbarous Koran" as opposed to the true, Arabic one. (Let’s leave aside for a minute the puzzling question of how any degree of "distortion" of the Koran could produce either an Old or a New Testament.) The Tradition also regards the non-canonical Gospel of Barnabas, and not the New Testament, as the one that Jesus taught. The Koran alone is the true word of God and sets aside all previous revelations.

While the influence of orthodox Christianity upon the Koran has been slight, apocryphal and heretical Christian legends are the second most important original source of Islam. In other words, Islam contains an awful lot that Christians have deliberately rejected over the years as religiously unsound. There are also influences of Sabaism, of Zoroastrianism, and of ancient Arabian paganism, including the divine sanction for the practices of polygamy and slavery. The reports in both the Koran and the Hadith (authoritative traditional sayings) concerning paradise, the houris, (virgins) the youths, the jinn (genies) and the angel of death have been directly taken from the ancient books of the Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism also originated the story that on the Day of Judgment all people will have to cross a bridge stretched across hell leading to paradise on which the unbelievers will stumble and fall down to hell.

The biblical stories been passed on to Muhammad presumably from Jewish and Christian sources, but it is probable that he never read the Old or the New Testament. Those narratives had deeply impressed him, but being incomplete and imprecise, they gave his imagination free rein. Of the books of the Old Testament he knew only of the Torah or Pentateuch and the Book of Psalms, while the Scriptures he treats collectively as "the Gospels." Muhammad took these narratives as they were given to him, and their use in the Koran amounts to random, approximate and often badly misunderstood reproduction of the Talmudic traditions and the Apocrypha. Moreover, they are of course devoid of their original contexts and of the spiritual message of the original.

Many Old Testament stories are changed beyond recognition, and can be treated as a "source" only in the most general sense. Abraham did not offer Isaac, but Ishmael, as a sacrifice. "Haman" was pharaoh’s chief minister, even though the Haman known to Jews lived in Babylon one thousand years later. Moses was picked from the river not by his sister but by his mother. A Samaritan was the one who molded the golden calf for the children of Israel and misguided them, even though Samarians arrived only after the Babylonian exile. The accounts of Moses’ life are sketchy and say nothing of his character, descent, the time he was sent as a prophet, the purpose of his mission, and where, how and why he appointed Aaron as his deputy. It does not relate the argument between them and the people of Israel, which is crucial to the story. The story of Noah reflected Muhammad’s dilemmas and difficulties rather than Noah’s mission, and even the names of the idols that Noah warns against are Arabic.

The Koran makes reference to Jesus, Mary and events related to them, but with a critical distinction. It explicitly denies that Jesus was crucified: Allah made the Jews so confused that they crucified somebody else instead who had the likeness of Christ: "They slew him not nor crucified but it appeared so unto them." Muslims claim that an impostor by the name of Shabih was crucified, and he resembled Jesus in his face only. It seems illogical to those who count "proud" as one of the "99 most beautiful names of Allah" that Jesus, who was capable of raising the dead and of healing the blind and the leper, willingly submitted to the cross and failed to destroy the Jews who intended to hurt him. Islam rejects the whole concept of the crucifixion, claiming that it is against reason to assume that Allah would not forgive man’s sins without the cross: to say so is to limit his power: "He forgives whom he will, and he chastises whom he will."

The denial of the Trinity is also explicit: Allah begets not, i.e. he is no Father; and was not begotten, that is, he is no Son; and no one is like him, which means he is no Holy Spirit. "They are infidels who say, Allah is the third of three." But "Isa" is not the Son of Allah, only a special prophet, and the Christians’ contrary claim shows how they are perverted. The Christians are guilty of blasphemy because of their belief in the "trinity" of Allah, Mary, and Jesus. The "real" Jesus was a righteous prophet and a good Muslim who paved the way for the final prophet, Muhammad himself.

There is a wishful myth in circulation among liberals that Islam accords respect to all "people of the book," i.e. Christians and Jews in addition to Moslems. While Islam indeed accords them a higher standing than it does to polytheists like Hindus (pace the question of whether Hinduism properly understood is truly polytheistic) or African animists, this hardly amounts to respect. Of all the "people of the book" only Muslims can attain salvation. Jews’ and Christians’ refusal to acknowledge Mohammed as the messenger of God dooms them to unbelief and eternal suffering after death. Christians are mortal sinners because of their belief in the divinity of Christ, and their condemnation is irrevocable: "God will forbid him the garden and the fire will be his abode."

Unlike the Christian faith in God revealing Himself through Christ, the Koran is not a revelation of Allah – a heretical concept in Islam – but the direct revelation of his commandments and the communication of his law. It has been said that the Koran, to a Muslim, is not the perfected Gospel, it Christ, the Word Incarnate. This is a somewhat tenuous metaphor, however, not a valid parallel: Christian God "comes down" and seeks man because of His fatherly love. The Fall cast a shadow, the Incarnation makes reconciliation possible. Allah, by contrast, is cold, haughty, unpredictable, unknowable, capricious, distant, and so purely transcendent that no "relationship" is possible. He reveals only his will, not himself. Allah is "everywhere," and therefore nowhere relevant to us. He is uninterested in making our acquaintance, let alone in being near to us because of love. We are still utterly unable to grasp his purposes and all we can do is what we have to do, to obey his command.

The Koran claims to be the fulfillment of a religious design which was imperfectly revealed to the Jews and to the Christians. It is the crowning synthesis, the final word. But viewing the matter objectively, leaving aside for a moment the question of the actual truth of the book, it seems hard to see how the Koran is a synthesis of anything. The way in which Christianity makes sense – again, simply as a logical matter and leaving aside the truth of it – as a fulfillment of Judaism, is clear even to the unbeliever. But the Koran’s claim is singularly implausible. Non-Muslim commentators fail to see in what way is the Koran an improvement over, or advancement on, the moral teaching, language, style, or coherence of the Old and New Testament. It is looks, feels, sounds like a construct entirely human in origin and intent, clear in its earthly sources of inspiration and the fulfillment of the daily needs, personal and political, of its author.

Finally, one cannot ignore that whatever mildly friendly things the Koran may say about Judaism and Christianity in its early part, the late Surras also signify the final break with the Jews and Christians, who are fiercely denounced. The Muslims must be merciless to the unbelievers but kind to each other. "Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them." War, not friendship, is mandatory until Islam reigns everywhere. Muslims are ordered to fight the unbelievers, "and let them find harshness in you." They must kill the unbelievers "wherever you find them." The punishment for resistance is execution or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides. By the stage in his life during which these Surras were written, Muhammad was no longer trying to convert his hearers by examples, promises, and warnings; he addresses them as their master and sovereign, praising them or blaming them for their conduct, giving laws and precepts as needed. His raw dogmatism stands, finally, naked of all pretence.

[DugwayDuke]

"YHWH regularly called for entire cities and nations to be exterminated to the last man, woman, child and domestic animal, whether they surrendered or not." #41

"That is the "generic" version of Jewish warfare, against peoples God had no real beef against." #330

So, YHWH did not call for the destruction of cities and extermination of the inhabitants as a routine and normal way of doing business? Are you now willing to admit that there is a difference between the Biblical instuctions on how to deal with enemies and the instructions in the Koran?

"There are also lots of examples where he devoted entire cities and nations to destruction, where all living things were to be killed, and not even the plunder was to be taken."

Sure, YHWH called for the elemination of the various "ites" found in the Promised Land, but did YHWH call for the elimination of non-belivers world-wide?

BTW, other than Jerico, just how many cities did YHWH order destroyed? If this was a regular thing, I would imagine the list is quite long.

[Commie Basher]

How about dinosaurs? They're pretty big. Perhaps there were a few Loch Ness monsters back then too, except on land. That is simply a reference to those phenomena.

The Bible says that the giants married the "daughters of men," so I don't think it's talking about dinosaurs. FWIW, Erik Van Daniken believes the giants were ancient astronauts. Know the part where God tells Moses he must not look at God's face? It's because God didn't want Moses to see that he was really an inhuman alien. Well, that's what Chariots of the Gods theorizes.

Why are you on this thread if you don't believe in any of the religions mentioned in the body of the article?

I don't think this thread is really about theology. This article appeared in FrontpageMag.com. It's message is that Jews and Christians share the same God, but Muslims don't. Since when is Frontpage.Mag interested in theology? It's not. I think this article's intent is to firm up a Jewish-Christian alliance for war against Islam. And as someone who was raised Catholic, I'm stating that Muslims are as much my brothers as Jews, and that "Hell no, I don't want your holy war!"

[Jorge]

Jorge:"How could you possibly know what the "the realm of legitimate thinking in Christian principles" includes when your statement denies the clear Biblical teaching that God created angels and men with self determination and free will?"

Think about it.

I have thought about it. Read my post again. My point was that you couldn't possibly know if you deny such a fundamemtal element of Biblical teaching.

[Jorge]

Jorge"That makes no sense at all. Unless of course God likes people teaching lies about Him"

For what purpose were the Jews chosen? For what purpose were the disciples chosen instead?

If you have an answer to my challenge, then by all means post it. But please don't expect me to do your homework for you to help you argue your own positions.

[Commie Basher]

If the Muslims are worshipping a God that says you can forcibly convert someone to Islam - and that Christianity and Judaism are lies, then who really cares if they *say* they worship the 'God of Abraham.' If they think that God allows this kind of act in his name,they are not worshipping the same God.

Christians did lots of forcible conversions in the medieval and Reformation period. They forcibly converted Indians, and Protestants and Catholics did much forcible conversions of each other.

Old Testament Jews, of course, were more tribal, and hence, not into forcible conversions. They simply killed you if you had land they wanted.

[Commie Basher]

The God of Abraham made the Jews his chosen people but supposedly allah wants the Jews killed and calls them monkeys.

The OT God of Abraham also wanted lots of gentiles killed because, someone said, for their "pagan acts." So the God of Abraham and Allah both share a desire to kill unbelievers. (Not that I believe Abraham, or even Moses, to be historical figures.)

[Jorge]

All you are showing here is a mental inflexibility.

Right. I have a mind set where words actually mean something......especially when it comes to God's Word... and that the intended meaning is not subject to every wierdo off the wall interpretation that comes down the pike.

So once again. The Bible clearly teaches that God endowed His creations with free will.

And contrary to your claim, the fact that Lucifer chose to rebel against God in no way denies "the power and control of God". Nor does it depart from "the realm of legitimate thinking in Christian principles".

[crystalk]

With all due respect, garbage!

You are free to ignore my posts from now on as I will ignore yours.

[Restorer]

BTW, other than Jerico, just how many cities did YHWH order destroyed? If this was a regular thing, I would imagine the list is quite long.

Don't have time to track down all such occurrences, but a quick look at Joshua came up with Ai, Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, Hebron and Debir. That's from one chapter, 10.

10:41 "So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South[2] and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded."

[Restorer]

The Bible says that the giants married the "daughters of men,"

The passage is a difficult one, but apparently the "giants" were the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men."

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

The sons of God may have been heavenly angels who forsook their proper dwelling place to take human form.

But lots of people disagree with this interpretation.

[Pliney the younger]

Dear Sweet Hour,

You make an excellent point.
Portions of the Koran are so hateful. That is hard to see how they can live in harmony with their neighbors.

American tolerance, an out growth of Judeo-Christianity, (All are equal in our fathers eyes) Can tolerate most anything except (Kill your neighbor if he refuses to submit to Islam.)

America has always had immigrations requirements.
And new immigrants have to pledge their allegiance to America. Personally I feel that if a potential immigrant lives by a belief that his God (Allah) demands that he can not live by the principle that America was created around.

That that should make him ineligible for citizenship.

There are billions of others who can honestly accept the principle that all men are created equal and shall tolerate the beliefs of others.

Thank you for your post.

Sincerely,

Pliny

[DugwayDuke]

All of those cities were within the Promised Land were they not? There is a difference since I can find no record of a command to destroy non-Jewish persons living outside of that Promised Land but I can find verses in the Koran commanding world wide destruction of the non-beliver. I guess the difference is that Islam considers the whole world as their Promised Land.

[nicmarlo]

Crystalk: Affirm, affirm, affirm, I say. Affirm my own perspective, affirm your perspective, affirm Jerry Falwell's perspective. Denial is for Egyptians, let them swim in it. Anyone who will say that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh, is on my side.

Me: The problem, crystalk, is you preach a different Gospel than Christ's. We each cannot have a different way to salvation, according to our own perspectives, and believe we, each one of us, is right. Christ told us He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through Him. A teaching contrary to what Christ teaches is a false doctrine and is, therefore, a false gospel.

Crystalk: With all due respect, garbage! You are free to ignore my posts from now on as I will ignore yours.

-----------------------------------

You are free to ignore my posts, crystalk; however, this is not about you and this is not about me. This is about Truth. None of us is free to ignore the truth of Christ's Words without ramifications. The Holy Spirit has impressed upon me to inform you of this fact: those who preach a gospel contrary to Christ's will answer to God for leading people astray from the Truth.

The Bible says ...

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." --Romans 3:23 (NIV)
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." --Romans 6:23 (NIV)
"We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." --Romans 5:1 (NIV)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." --John 3:16 (NIV)
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ." --1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV)
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." --1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." --Romans 5:8 (NIV)
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." --Romans 10:9 (NIV)

Galations 1:6-8

Paul said: "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed."

Calvary Chapel is one of many churches throughout the country which have solid Biblical teachings. I've posted a link here for your information, if you're interested. They have Scriputure posted at their site under the heading "The Gospel." Another church organization I am familiar with is the Evangelical Free Church. Both links can give you information and lead you to churches in your area, if there's one close by.

There are many others, although I hesitate to recommend some because many have installed their own church rules, not always consistent with Scripture. I do hope that your mind and eyes see the Truth and that the Holy Spirit will bring people into your life to help you understand the Truth of God's Word.

[Jorge]

Jorge"So once again. The Bible clearly teaches that God endowed His creations with free will."

If it's so clear, how come most people here don't believe it? Particularly, I would note, so many of the Bible literalists?

I doubt very much that you accurately speak for most people here, least of all Bible believing Christians.

I have attended several churches, listened to numerous ministers on radio and TV, and have discussed this issue with others in more than one Christian Forum online.
Those who reject the doctrine of man's free will have always been a very small minority.

There may be disagreements over what part man's free will plays in salvation, or how it relates to God's sovereignty, but only a few reject outright that God created man with a free will, self determination and the ability to choose.

There are numerous scriptures clearly describing man as a free moral agent, of God offering blessings that are contingent upon obedience, and also describing man's rebellion against God.

All of these passages illustrate that God created man with a free will.

[Jorge]

Beyond that, if made creatures he can not control, then he cannot be all powerful, can he? While, if Satan is a creature God can control, than he is not all good either.

You have some explaining to do.

That's easy.
God can be all powerful and at the same time gracious enough to give his creatures a free will, and there is no reason to believe these things must be mutually exclusive.

God didn't make men "all powerful", therefore man's free will is no challenge to God's being all powerful.
There's no danger of man taking God's place. Nothing is ultimately "out of control" for God, simply because He grants free will to His creatures.

Perhaps you believe that in order for God to demonstrate He is all powerful He must create only souless robots?
Wow, that would be great company for God wouldn't it.

And the idea that "if Satan is a creature God can control, then he is not all good either."...misses the point as well.
The Bible teaches that God created Lucifer perfect in every way. Lucifer rebelled against God, and the expression of his rebellion is recorded in the five "I will" statements in the OT.
Once again, we see that the free will which you deny God gave His creatures, is central to understanding who Satan is and what sin is all about.

To claim that somehow God's being all powerful makes Him responsible for the evil committed by man and Satan is an unfounded smear against the perfectly Holy character of God.